Designing Service Operations
Most services include elements of products. If I go to the hairdressers the operation requires appointment scheduling, equipment, hair treatments and hot water. The thrill of a Disneyland Paris, Indiana Jones Temple of Peril ride obviously involves sound and reliable equipment - the product is the ride, the thrills have been very carefully designed in. There is a massive operation to manage.However many issues arise in the design of service operations primarily because the customer is so directly and immediately involved in the delivery transactions. The customer is present and involved and may even serve themselves. They are integrated with the delivery of the service. The intangibles of service and variability in demand are significant.
- Service design issues
- engineering a service and its delivery
Application of industrial/engineering design approaches for efficiency and utilisation - routinisation/standardisation, front shop/back room/office, self-service, full-time and part-time staff flexibility.
- designing from a customer service quality perspective
Customer participation, the intangibles, using the customer as labour, queuing and the inability to stock a service, coping with variability in demand, efficiencies and quality. Customer confidence. Case study: Holiday in Aghios Nikolios.
- Lyth and Johnston's a nine step procedure for service efficiency with requisite quality.
References (to be completed)
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